The cold, dark, dreary days of winter are finally behind us and the warm spring sun is here. That means it’s time to pack up your winter coats and bulky sweaters for the season. And, while you’re at it, you should probably put away your dark nail polishes too—at least if the latest nail trend has anything to say about it. Get ready for tie-dye nails.
The arts-and-crafts pattern is having a real moment in the fashion spotlight once again. And when we say “a moment,” we mean it was everywhere. The print was spotted all over the runways for both spring and fall 2019. On puffer coats (at Maryam Nassir Zadeh), on miniskirts (at Area, very groovy), while Collina Strada put it leggings. Denim and sweatshirts are also getting the treatment, so it’s safe to say we’ll have no shortage of nineties camp attire come summer.
Beyond fashion week, influencers are bringing the trend into the real-world, posting photo after photo on Instagram of how they’re implementing the tie-dye into their everyday looks. And now, as Refinery29 first pointed out, that includes on their nails.
Hairstylist Justine Marjan shared a look at the tie-dye nails manicurist Kim Truong painted for her. Each nail was “dyed” in a slightly different neon color. In her caption, she credited the inspo to South Korean nail artist Park Eunkyung, the talent behind the Instagram-adored nail salon Unistella, who has also been posting a handful of takes on tie-dye.
Gigi Hadid also recently wore the trend. Nail artist Mei Kawajiri showed off the tie-dye masterpiece she gave the model for her 24th birthday celebration on Instagram. She kept the design concentrated to only Hadid’s ring fingers.
These mango and lime-colored nails look like they’d go perfectly with a margarita.
While these red, white, and blue ones were made for Fourth of July.
Metallic shades give the finish a more disco vibe…
…Meanwhile a faded look gives the trend a dreamscape feel.
Of course, you can’t go wrong with a truly throwback all-out neon.
You can also wear it in smaller, more simplistic ways. Take Los Angeles based nail artist Julie Ventura’s latest creation as a good example. As she explained in her post, “Incorporating negative space in tie-dye makes it super fun and gives it more depth.” Ventura also tempered the trend just a bit by turning it into a stripe, rather than overtaking the entire nail with color.
Another way to ease into tie-dye nails is to use more muted colors.
It looks great in all blue with small dotted designs.
Or simply add a dash of tie-dye by painting just one nail with splashy colors.
Like most nail art, it’s probably easier to pay a visit to your salon to get the look, but you could attempt to re-create it all on your own at home if you’re dextrous. Ventura posted a tutorial on how she creates tie-dye nail polish stickers first, then coats her nails in a clear polish, applies the stickers directly to her nail bed, files, and quickly finishes with another clear top coat.
You could even attempt to draw the pattern directly onto your nail and create the tie-dye effect by pulling a striping brush through the center of the design before it dries. The best news is, the tie-dye look is meant to be a little messy, off-centered, and obscure, so it’s a pretty difficult at-home manicure to mess up.
Want to give it a go? Do as Ventura did and mix together Orly’s brightest colors like Glowstick, Neon Heat, and Angel Rain. Then, top it off with Orly’s no-chip top coat to protect your precious tie-dyed creation.
